Cortona Italy - Town or country?
 

We are taking a family vacation in Italy - myself, husband and 3 girls age 27, 24 and 8!
We are doing a few days in rome, a few in Florence and 5 in Tuscany in the middle.

I am struggling to decide between a hotel in the town of Cortona where the elder girls can hang out in the evening while we take the youngest to bed OR a nearby country place with pool that the youngest can play in as she will probably need some down time from the sightseeing.

On my list are :
Casa Portagioia
Le Terre Dei Cavalieri
Relais Antico Borgo San Lorenzo
Villa Marsilli in the twon

So my questions are:
- How easy is it to find entertainemnet anfd things to do with an 8 year old in Corton and what town hotels would you recomend for a child?
- If we stay at one ouside with pool - how easy would it be for the eldergirls to drive in of an eveing?

Thanks

Cortona is very steep and your girls would have to be added as drivers on your car (IDP required). Can they drive a manual shift car on steep grades? They could only drive to one of the parking lots and take escalators the rest of the way. You aren't allowed to drive in the center of most hilltowns (or other cities such as Florence/Rome).

good point - no they cant drive shift - unlike me they have been brought up in american automatics!

Cortona has escalators now???
(I didn't realize how long it's been since our last visit.)

What time of year are you going? Cortona is shoulder-to-shoulder (mostly American) tourists in summer. I found it really unpleasant - hardly anyone speaking Italian - though I didn't spend much time there in the evenings.

Consider someplace on Lago Trasimeno, which is not far away. There are several nice towns there the girls would probably enjoy in the evening...and beaches.

St. Cirq,

Which towns do you like especially on Lago Trasimeno?
We will be renting house not far away in Umbria and would like to visit for lunch or dinner or a beach day...

Thanks,
Dina

Thanks for the responses. We are going ofr the last few days of August and first 9 days of September.
Cortona may well be busy still.

We have dcided on a farmhouse self catered appartment about 15minutes from Cortona where there is a pool and they offer breakfasts, dinner and cooking lessons as extras if wanted.

Heres the link - looks lovely
http://www.vrbo.com/337742

Cant wait to go!

We will definitely take a day trip to the lake I think.